Peter Navarro, the head of Trump's new National Trade Council, told the Financial Times newspaper that the euro was like an "implicit Deutsche Mark" whose low valuation gave Germany a competitive advantage over its main partners.

I cannot and do not want to change the situation as it is

Angela Merkel,

Mrs Merkel's comments today came as she said the EU must remain focused on its own issues such as migration, the labour market, digitalisation, security and increased defence cooperation, even as Britain leaves the bloc.

The Chancellor said she agreed with Mr Lofven that the remaining 27 EU members needed to work closely together on such key issues, despite the "deep incision" that Britain's vote to leave the EU had caused.

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She agreed with Mr Lofven that the EU members needed to work closely together to solve key issues

She said: "It's important that we do not forget our priorities at the time of British exit negotiations."

She said the remaining 27 members had done "very well" up to now in maintaining unity.